Name: Madeline Watson
Age: 21
Hometown: Madison, New Jersey
Major/Minor: Strategic Communications/French
Something not everyone knows about you: I took a gap semester to live in Paris with a host family before coming to Elon!
What you did over the summer: I was a nanny in Martha’s Vineyard.
Most embarrassing moment at Elon (so far)?: I’m always embarrassing myself at Elon; I’m just a walking liability. I guess the most embarrassing moment so far would be that I failed Elon 101.
Favorite memory from Elon (so far): My favorite memory of Elon is sophomore year living in a Danieley suite with 7 other girls…there was never a dull moment in Dan N 102.
Involvement on Campus/Leadership Role: I’m the public relations manager and one of the original founders of Elon’s Love Your Melon Crew, which is an apparel brand run by college students with the goal to help those suffering from pediatric cancer.
Tell us a little about Love Your Melon and how you became involved in this organization!
I had seen social media posts from friends at other schools that had their own crews and became interested in the organization. I reached out to Love Your Melon’s regional manager for the southeastern area and, with the help of other girls with the same interest, started the Elon University Love Your Melon Crew in February of 2016. The crew consists of 4 leadership members: President, Vice President, Secretary, and myself, the PR manager, as well as 16 crew members. Together we promote the brand and raise awareness on our campus by word of mouth, social media, and events, such as having a table at Elonthon!
What have you learned so far through your leadership position in this organization?
As the PR manager it’s my job to run the social media (Twitter, Instagram, Facebook) and deal with any outside media such as journalists or photographers. This spring we had a photographer fly out to Elon to photograph our whole crew! As a strategic communications major I hope to work with social media and public relations in the future, so this helps me practice those skills and it is incredibly rewarding to work with such a great organization.
The hats that Love Your Melon sells/gives to children are both trendy and super comfy. Does Love Your Melon sell any other apparel that people could buy?
Love Your Melon has been expanding its apparel from just beanies – they now sell caps, t-shirts, tanks, sweatshirts, water bottles, and much more! A new back to school release is on the website now with so many cool options to choose from, all benefitting people affected by pediatric cancer!
What has been your most exciting experience with Love Your Melon?
My most exciting experience was definitely directing the photo shoot for our crew. It was really cool seeing my crew and I on the Love Your Melon page and it even popped up on my Facebook ads!
What is one thing you hope to accomplish most this year with LYM and the crew at Elon?
We have a lot of great new girls this year and I can’t wait to get to know them. I hope we can reach a new goal in credits and be able to make a home or hospital visit. This experience has been both fun and rewarding, I’m so proud and honored to be part of Love Your Melon.
Anything else you would like to tell your readers about LYM?
We’re currently trying to become an official Elon club so we can have a Moseley table and put out flyers around campus. As a crew we can also dress as superheroes and make hospital visits and home visits to children battling cancer. However, we haven’t reached that amount of credits yet since we’re such a new crew! At a certain amount of credits, we get to do different things such as a hospital or home visit, or receive Love Your Melon beanies. We need more people to order off the website (loveyourmelon.com) and enter “Elon University” at checkout so we get enough to do that!
If you are interested in learning more about Love Your Melon at Elon or joining the crew, there are currently two spots available, so for those of you interested reach out to Maddy with any questions you may have! Also, don’t forget to check out Love Your Melon apparel to help a wonderful cause!